The invention relates to a piping system for process plants in the food and beverage industry according to the preamble of claim 1, where these piping systems are used, in particular, in process plants that serve product processing and product transfer and that are subject to high microbiological quality requirements and requirements for the best clean in place capabilities (so-called CIP). The application also includes, in particular, the pharmaceutical and biotechnical fields.
The prototype of such a piping system is known, for example, from DE 101 08 259 C1, wherein the piping system is limited, however, to a piping arrangement in which a so-called valve distributor tree is assigned to a tank of a storage tank system opens directly from the tank bottom, and has a progression, as a rule, rising from below perpendicularly upwards. Here, the process lines and function valves are attached directly below the respective tank outlet. By now, this piping system has proven itself in practice; it is described in detail in the company literature GEA Tuchenhagen Brewery Systems, ECO-Matrix®, 223d-10/06 under the name ECO-Matrix®, and in particular, with respect to cost effectiveness and the influence on product quality.